December 11, 2018By Tom Demerly
A Russian Tupolev Tu-160 supersonic heavy bomber arrives in Venezuela on Monday.
Two Russian Tupolev/ United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) Tu-160M1 (click title to entry for article - thank you) supersonic bombers, NATO codename “Blackjack”, arrived in Venezuela on Monday, Dec. 10, 2018 amid speculation about rising tensions between Russia and the U.S. along with continued questions about the status of Venezuela’s government. It’s the third deployment after those in 2003 and 2008.
The two massive Tu-160 “White Swan” bombers arrived at Simón Bolívar International Airport outside Caracas on Monday following a 10,000-kilometer (6,200-mile) flight across the Atlantic from Engels 2 Air Base, 14 kilometers (8.7 mi) east of Saratov, Russia. The aircraft belong to Russia’s elite 121st Guards Heavy Bomber Aviation Regiment, the only unit to operate the approximately 11 operational Tu-160 aircraft of 17 reported total airframes from 6950th Air Force Base.
Interestingly, each of the Tu-160 fleet is named after a prominent Russian hero. The two aircraft that deployed to Venezuela are the “Nikolay Kuznetsov” and the “Vasily Reshetnikov”. Sources have suggested that the Tu-160s may participate in joint Venezuelan/Russian training operations in the region....
